In the Dark
by ladeste
Summary: Sometimes, all it takes is one change. One moment. The difference between life and death. A betrayal, however, causes pain regardless of the outcome. Thatch and the Yami Yami no mi AU.


**Quick apology/disclaimer, I was listening to Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' while I was writing this, so any related madness is thanks to his musical genius.**

**Having said that, happy reading!**

* * *

"Oi Ace! Come look at what I found."

"No way! That's a devil fruit ain't it? They seriously had one on board?"

Thatch grinned proudly as he tossed the fruit up in the air, catching it as it descended.

"You betcha."

Snatching the fruit out of Thatch's game of throw and catch, Ace turned the fruit over in his hands to get a better look.

"Man, rookie pirates should know better than to hold onto this kind of treasure."

Passing it back to Thatch, he couldn't help but grin.

"It works out for us though. When are you going to eat it?"

"I haven't decided if I want to eat it yet. I want to check with Haruta and see if she can find out anything about it first. I don't want to eat it if it's something lame."

Ace raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"As if! Eat it! It can't be any worse than my brother's fruit, and man is his power lame."

Thatch just gave the younger commander a pointed look.

Interrupting the pair, Marco stepped up next to Thatch, his hand clapping the other on the shoulder.

"Ace, lay off Thatch, it's his devil fruit and his decision."

A victorious smirk graced Thatch's lips.

Marco's fingers clenched tightly on Thatch's shoulder in warning not to be a smartarse.

"Have you checked in with Pops yet? He'll want your report."

The smirk faded into a sheepish '_who me' _face... He may or may not have neglected reporting to Pops in favour of showing off his findings to Ace.

"I'm gonna do that now."

"Good idea yoi."

Thatch turned to make his way to the main deck of the _Moby Dick_, where his father was undoubtedly sitting. Flanked by Marco and Ace, Thatch's excitement returned, giving him a spring in his step.

None of them noticed the figure plotting in the background.

* * *

"Guarara! Congratulations son. Have you decided what you're going to do with it?"

"Not yet Pops I wanted to see if we could work out what it is first."

"No rush, take as long as you need. In the mean time I think we are overdue for some celebrations."

Whitebeard topped up his ever present tankard, much to the displeasure to the surrounding nurses. Not waiting for his son's to do the same; he raised his glass in a toast.

"To the Fourth Division's return!"

The crew rushed to bring out the barrels of drinks as they echoed their father's sentiments.

"Aye!"

"Cheers!"

"To the Fourth Division!"

Thatch accepted the mug that was pushed into his hands, clinking it against Marco's and Ace's before guzzling down the contents.

The party lasted long into the night, with Thatch being swept from one group to the next, all wanting to congratulate and question the lucky commander. Whilst Thatch had stopped drinking a few hours ago, Ace clearly hadn't as the young man half slumped, half fell on him as he attempted to wrap an arm around Thatch's shoulders.

"Thatch, Thatchy, Thatchy-y-y."

Amused by his antics, Thatch humoured the fire users.

"Yes Ace?"

"You should– you should–"

"I should...?"

"_Just eat it~!"_

Jozu who had been seated to Thatch's right, groaned at the sung line.

"Ace..."

The warning went unheard (or just ignored), as Ace launched into a slurred, and slightly edited rendition of 'Just Beat It.'

"I take it Captain MJ and the Thriller Pirate's stopped by while I was gone."

Jozu head dropped into his hands, moaning in despair. Of all their allies that could have stopped by...

"It never ends."

"_Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it! No one else wants to eat it. Na nana nana na na na na. Something, something, some-thing. Just eat it!"_

Cringing at the closeness of Ace's 'singing' to his ear, Thatch pulled the pair to stand.

"Okay, Hot Shot, I think it's time for bed."

"But I don't wanna!"

The show of defiance was ruined as Ace toppled forward towards the deck, almost taking Thatch with him when Marco caught his other side, dragging him upright.

"Definitely time for bed Ace."

Ace pouted but made no further protest.

_Was the deck supposed to be moving like that?_

The millisecond the two older commanders deposited their charge onto his bed, he was snoring away. Not bothering to be quiet, the pair shut the door behind them, heading towards their respective rooms. As they went to part for the night, Marco turned to face Thatch.

"Don't let the idiot influence your decision, yoi."

Thatch smirked at Marco's unnecessary concern.

"Hadn't planned on it."

Marco nodded in response, before slipping into his room to sleep the last few hours left of the night.

Sighing, Thatch sunk onto his bed, his hands resting behind his head as his eyes closed.

The _Moby Dick_ bobbed gently on the waves, the calming motion usually enough to put the commander to sleep. Tonight though, there was too much on his mind.

Rolling over to sit up, he extracted the cursed fruit that had been in the chest under his bed.

Passing it between his hands he couldn't help but marvel at the strange purple-swirl design. It was bizarre to think that something so simple could possibly contain so much power. Pops, Marco, Ace, Jozu... Each of their fruits had gifted them with significant power. On the other hand, he'd also come across some pretty underwhelming devil fruit users in his time.

Like that guy whose fruit let him turn into a pigeon. Sure he could fly, but the dude was a pigeon. He did _NOT_ want to be a pigeon. Besides it would ruin all of the bird jokes that were reserved for the sole purpose of annoying Marco.

Losing the ability to swim was not particularly appealing either. Whilst the crew didn't need him to be able to swim per say (Namur had the crew covered 90% of the time), he still enjoyed swimming when there was an opportunity to do so.

_What to do?_

* * *

With his inability to sleep, his room quickly became stifling, forcing Thatch up to the deck in a desperate need for fresh air, the small wooden chest tucked under his arm.

Discarding the chest on an empty barrel, Thatch made his way over to the railing, resting against it with folded arms. Waiting for his stomach to stop pretending it was on a rollercoaster.

As his breathing steadied, his mind continued to swirl with possibilities.

* * *

Teach watched from the shadows as the outline of the Fourth Division Commander left the room.

As the commander disappeared, he wasted no time in entering the empty room.

Scanning the desk and bookshelf he found nothing. Teach dove onto the floor, his hand waving wildly under the bed. Failing once again to find the wooden chest, he growled in frustration.

Rising back to his feet, Teach tore away at the pillow, quickly turning to removing the books from the shelf as the fruit remained unfound.

_The damn commander must have taken it with him._

He knew that his waiting onboard this joke of a ship would have to be good for something. The Yami Yami no Mi would soon be his! The ultimate power! There was no way he was going to miss his chance.

_It's mine!_

* * *

Thatch tilted his head back as he took in the stars surrounding a crescent moon. There was no better way to view the night sky then from the _Moby Dick_ floating in the middle of the ocean.

A movement in the shadows caught the corner of his eyes.

Thatch turned.

A dagger sunk into his stomach.

Stumbling back into the railing, Thatch gripped the hilt, pulling it out and releasing it with a clatter.

His hand coming back to press against his blood stained stomach.

"Teach? What? Why would you–"

It wasn't making any sense.

Teach was his friend.

His brother.

"It's my devil fruit!"

Dazed, Thatch barely recognised the chest now clamped in Teach's grasp.

Teach lunged.

Blood splattered.

Thatch's eyes glazed.

* * *

"Commander? What the hell?! Pops! POPS! SOMEBODY HELP!"

...

...

...

"Son! Thatch? Thatch! Can you hear me?"

...

...

...

"He's in shock. We have to treat him immediately! Emergency kit NOW!"

...

...

...

"Back away! Everyone back away!"

...

...

...

"I have the kit!"

...

...

...

"Give it here!"

...

...

...

"I said back away!"

* * *

"Pops, come on I have to go! The longer we wait the harder it's going to be to track that bastard down."

Whitebeard watched from his seat beside Thatch's bed, as Ace stalked the length of the infirmary.

The nurses frowned in disapproval, but since Pops had given the Commanders permission to rotate in to stay with Thatch, they wouldn't throw Ace out – yet. If he didn't settle down soon though, he was going to be dragged out by his ear.

"No one's going anywhere until Thatch wakes up and we know what happened."

"But Pops!"

"Keep it down would ya? Some of us are trying to sleep."

"THATCH!"

The commander in question groaned as Ace's body collided with his own, nearly crushing him in a hug.

Marco's shoulders sagged in relief, as he pushed off the opposite wall he had been leaning against. Coming to stand beside Thatch's bed, he pulled Ace away from Thatch before he sent the nurses into a fit.

"How are you feeling Thatch?"

Before he could respond, the door slammed open as the other commanders fought each other to get through the door first.

"Is he okay?"

"Is he awake?"

"What's going on?"

Haruta, managing to squeeze past Jozu's and Kingdew's massive forms, quickly made it to his bedside, scrambling up Pops' leg to sit on the edge of his bed. Grabbing his hand in both of her smaller ones, she brought it up to her chest.

"Please don't die! I promise that I won't play any pranks on the Fourth Division for a whole month! Just don't die!"

Lips twitching in amusement, Thatch used his free arm to push himself up so that he could sit upright.

"Don't think I'm going to die anytime soon Short Stuff."

It was a testament to how worried they'd all been when Haruta didn't whine at the use of her most hated nickname, instead shuffling up the bed so she could wrap herself around his arm more closely.

"Promise?"

Thatch frowned, extracting his arm from her grasp to drape it over her shoulders.

"I'll do my best."

The conversation was interrupted as Lara, the head nurse came over her hands planted on her hips.

"Okay that's enough. The Commander is still recovering and I can't have this many people in my infirmary, commanders or no."

The grumbles of protest were cut off as Whitebeard took charge of the situation.

"I would like to talk to Thatch. Everyone else can go tell the other's that Thatch is awake."

"Yes Pops."

"Feel better Thatch."

Izo closed the door gently as they exited the room.

Thatch and Whitebeard sat in silence as the nurses checked him over.

No one commented on his unscarred stomach.

Once their job was finished, they too left the infirmary, only Lara hesitating at the door, her voice softer than Thatch had ever heard it.

"Please call if you need anything."

"Thank you Lara."

Nodding her head the dismissal, the two men were left alone.

Thatch felt the weight of their silence settle down on his shoulders.

Fisting his hands in his hair, Thatch curled into himself, his head resting on his knees.

"He... I... I..."

The Commander swallowed around the lump forming in his throat, as he started again.

"I think..."

He took another breath.

"I think I killed him... He wanted the fruit...He tried to... I didn't mean to do it. It just happened."

Lifting his head, Thatch stared intently at his hands, letting the darkness seep out of them as he'd seen Ace do with his fire time and time again.

Clenching his fists, the black wisps vanished into nothing.

The pain of being betrayed by a man he had considered to be his brother for decades, was nearly crippling. The thought of passing that pain onto his father...

He inhaled a shuddering breath, stealing himself to meet his father's eyes.

"I'm so sorry Pops."

Anguish washed over Whitebeard.

He was ashamed that this had happened to his family, and aboard his ship. That he hadn't been able to protect him. That his son was feeling guilty over his actions of self defence.

He wrapped his arms around Thatch.

"Forgive me, my son."

* * *

**Hey guys, I hope you liked my AU. I apologise that the ending is so heavy, but the situation doesn't really allow for a happy finish. **

**I know the idea isn't original, and I'm sure there are other works out there that manipulate the same variable, but you'll know if you've read any of my other One Piece fanfictions that I have a huge soft spot for Ace and Thatch. I will do just about anything to make sure that they stay healthy, happy and in one piece (...and clearly it's time for bed if I'm making one piece puns). **

**I'd love to hear what you thought of my interpretation though, and thank you for reading!**


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